


Silberstreif

by firedup



Series: Gaining Life [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ageing, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hanzo being supportive, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 04:31:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18491401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firedup/pseuds/firedup
Summary: Jesse wouldn't consider himself vain, exactly, but finding those first greys does hurt a bit. Hanzo doesn't mind; quite the contrary.





	Silberstreif

**Author's Note:**

> Written and posted in under two hours and barely even proofread, buuut I don't care, I had to get this out of my head. Hope you still like :)

Hanzo yawns, stretching lightly under the covers. It's been a long day- long, succesful, and satisfying- and he'd really like to go to sleep soon. He's only been keeping the bedside lamp on so that Jesse won't have to stumble his way into bed in the dark when he's finished in the bathroom, and he's been reading on his tablet because he thought might as well.

 

What he's really been doing is, read the same paragraph at least a dozen times without taking in any of the words. Yawning again, he rubs at his face, throws a look at the holoclock on the bedside table, and startles. According to that device, it has been almost half an hour since Jesse disappeared into the tiny hotel-room bathroom to prepare for bed, telling Hanzo he'd only be a minute. Since that is usually about the amount of time it really does take his cowboy to change and brush his teeth and his taking longer is mostly not a good sign, Hanzo doesn't hesitate to put the tablet aside and slip back out of bed to check on him.

 

On the short way through the bedroom he mentally rakes back over the day, trying to find anything, any moment, that stands out to him as something that might have put Jesse on edge. He doesn't; not then and certainly not in retrospect. Their mission had gone as smoothly as they could possibly wish, they'd tacked a comfortable dinner on at the end to celebrate a little and had a leisurely walk back to the hotel, with a small detour through a nearby park. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened, and yet he prepares himself for the sight of Jesse hunched over the sink or curled up on the toilet seat, or maybe the floor, because that's the most common form a minor breakdown takes with him-

 

\- and it's not what he finds. Relief is quickly replaced by confusion and as quickly followed by amusement as he realizes just what is happening. It would seem Jesse found them- he already did yesterday but was rather too preoccupied at the moment to tell his lover and later on, simply forgot. He leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and allows himself a smile at the sight of Jesse frowning at his reflection while holding the hair over his temples back with his hands.

 

The first fine threads of silver among the auburn are clearly visible in the lamplight.

 

Something about the sight stirs a new kind of tenderness in Hanzo's heart, for all that he thought he knew every one there is. Apparently, even after years of being Jesse McCree's partner, there are yet more to be discovered.

 

Then Jesse's eyes find him in the mirror. Looking mildly mortified, he drops his hands and turns around a bit too fast for it to look casual. Especially since he gets his foot tangled in the small carpet underneath him and has to grab onto the sink for balance. It takes every ounce of the restraint trained into Hanzo from his childhood not to laugh at him.

 

"Dammit.". Jesse kicks the offending carpet away and leans back against the sink, but the game's up and he knows it. Hanzo decides he feels like being the nice one for a change and make this easy on him.

 

"You don't have to hide them. I already saw.".

 

A soft groan, then a sigh. Jesse runs a hand through his hair- it already looks mussed, as if he had done that often in the past half hour, and this hardly improves it. Then again, the natural state of Jesse's hair is some kind of mess, the only kind that Hanzo can say he loves without reserve.

 

"`course ya did. Welp, come kiss my good looks goodbye, `cuz that's the beginning of the end right there.". His lover sounds so overdramatically morose that Hanzo sees no need to suppress his laugh this time. Chuckling, he asks, "And why would that be?", while indicating himself- the grey in his own hair has been creeping back gradually over the last years but if the looks he receives are anything to go by, he's still rather handsome- to say the least.

 

(Most of those looks are from Jesse himself- naturally.)

 

The exasperated snort he receives for his preening is no more believable than Jesse's casual act from a few minutes earlier. He's still smiling when his cowboy pulls him into a rough headlock only to kiss him right after. "You cocky bastard don' need me to tell ya that ya look smashin' and always will ta me. Ya black-haired guys just have an unfair advantage, that's all.".

 

"Do we?". Hanzo arches an eyebrow at him, asking for clarification.

 

"Yep. `cuz that,", Jesse runs his fingers through the long hair on top of Hanzo's head, all salt and pepper"- `s got style. That-", pointing to his own head,"- just looks ratty. Or will. I've seen my old man, you better prepare for the worst.".

 

"I don't believe you.". Try as he might, Hanzo can't keep his face straight. "And even if you're right, I still love them.".

 

"Tell me that again in a year.".

 

"I will. And every day until then, if you want. And every day after.". Baffled, Jesse blinks at him and his look of intense earnesty, tries to pull up a smile and crack a joke, but Hanzo prevents that by slipping a hand behind his neck and coaxing him down until he can kiss his temple. "I love them. Every single grey hair you have and will ever have, because that means you're alive. You've lived long enough to get old, unlike so many of those in our profession, and every grey hair more means you've lived another day, or week, or month. So... yes. I do love them, and I'll cherish every single one of them.". He whispers those last words into Jesse's hair, punctuating them with feather-kisses, before slowly drawing back to look at his love.

 

"Ya're a hopeless romantic.". Jesse tries to make light of it but his voice betrays him, rough and slightly unsteady, and the look in his eyes says the rest. There's something almost like awe, and that warmth that Hanzo is still not entirely sure what he did to deserve it, and enough tenderness to kill him, and when he leans down to kiss him again Hanzo tastes a hint of salt on his lips. It lasts only a moment, Jesse drawing back just long enough to whisper, "I love you,", into his mouth, and they come back together and don't part again for a very long time.

 

 

(Genji, of course, crows with laughter when he spots Jesse's greys after they get back to base. Hanzo smacks him on the back of the head and reminds him that, due to their genetics, he'd likely have a lot more than that by now if he didn't keep dyeing his hair in neon colors, and that shuts him up.)

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus Scene: 
> 
> Jack Morrison is staring hard at Jesse, an expression of deepest disapproval showing between the scars and the wrinkles and the general air of grumpiness, as if the cowboy's greys have somehow offended him personally. Then he turns sharply on his heel, stalking away. 
> 
> "You're still just a kid to me, and you'll continue to be one!".


End file.
